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The ICC World Test Championship Final is on the horizon and South Africa and Australia have started to gear up for the one-off Test at Lord's.
Scott Boland, one of Australia's key pacers, spoke of his ambitions of making it to the side heading to the World Test Championship Final 2025 against South Africa. "I've had my eye on that game since we qualified in January, so yeah I'll be doing everything I can over the next two or three months to make sure I'm right for that game on June 11," Boland said, according to ICC website. The 35-year-old featured for Australia in the World Test Championship Final in 2023, when they got their hands on the mace for the first time. Boland was a vital cog in that team, as he picked five wickets across two innings. He produced a brilliant spell in the second innings with figures of 3/46, which included the key wickets of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, and helped guide Australia to a memorable win at The Oval. He has been instrumental for Australia in difficult situations, especially in the most recent Border-Gavaskar series at home, where he stepped up in the absence of Josh Hazlewood, who was ruled out due to injury after two games. Boland finished the series as the third-highest wicket-taker in the series with 21 wickets despite only playing three Test matches. This performance included a memorable 6/45 in the second innings of the final Test in Sydney as Australia secured a 3-1 series win, getting their hands on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after more than a decade. Boland has been nursing an injury to his knee sustained during the Sheffield Shield but is on the road to recovery for a busy period of cricket ahead. "I think it's just working out what's working and what doesn't. I've only had this knee injury for eight to 10 months. I think we're going about it the right way. I'll have a little break now. But once I do get up and going, I'm hoping to just go really smoothly and if everything goes well, I'll be right to go for that one Test in England and those three Tests in the Caribbean. And then after that, have another break again, and then sort of built my strengths and bowling loads again before the huge summer cricket next year, " Boland added. Boland will be competing with fellow pacers Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc for a spot in the side for the final. The aforementioned trio missed out on the Champions Trophy earlier this year due to injury and personal reasons following an action-packed summer of cricket, but have since made their return in the Indian Premier League. Australia will be looking to defend their title and retain their status as the best Test side in the world against first-time finalists, South Africa. (ANI)
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